What?s in a name? Not enough sometimes, like when people make mistaken assumptions about the Lansdowne Folk Club.
?Folk? kills us 90 percent of the time,? says president Lee Jones. ?People think we?re sitting around singing ?Kumbaya.? The Lansdowne Folk Club?s range of styles goes far beyond their name, as their 9th Anniversary concert Thursday night will reveal when Full Frontal Folk and Four Way Street perform at the Twentieth Century Club on Lansdowne Avenue.
Full Frontal Folk, a relatively new four-woman band, ?is creating a lot of buzz,? Jones says. ?They play hip-hop, punk, and traditional folk ballads,? and look a bit like all three styles as well. They share a love of traditional bluegrass as well as modem singer-songwriter stylings, delivering a combination of covers and originals that defy classification.
Wendy Fuhr, Jennifer Schneck, Thea Shoulson, and Courtney Malley play 6 and 12 string guitars, bass, mandolin, fiddle, and percussion, plus blend their voices in polished harmonies.
Four Way Street is also new, but the group?s four men have been headlining in Philadelphia for a long time. Ben Arnold, Jim Boggia, Joseph Parsons, and Scott Bricklin ?all solo recording artists ? combine their distinctive rock, folk, pop, and R&B styles.
?The funny thing about our club is that we offer anything from jazz to doo-wop, while also bringing in the best national and international folk acts,? Jones explains. ?But we?re on the fringe of the traditional folk scene.?
Their eclectic range of styles compliments the Twentieth Century Club?s wood-trimmed, intimate confines. Many concerts occur in the library room, which seats 80-90 people and has beautiful acoustics. Concerts like Thursday?s require the ballroom, where the Folk Club puts a stage on the floor to keep the performers near the crowd, who are arranged in a semi-circle. Thanks to curtains installed by Celebration Theatre, the acoustics there are just as natural.
Upcoming concerts demonstrate the Folk
Club?s fringy approach. On April 25, catch
Fred?s Mobile Homes ? a Philadelphia bluegrass band that takes the ?Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?? sound and adds some ?Yo, Brother!? On May 23, experience Broadside Electric ? ?everything from Celtic and klezmer to folk rock and traditional English ballads,? says Jones. On June 6, celebrate summer with local Brazilian jazz duo Minas.
If you go: Tickets for the Lansdowne Folk Club?s Ninth Anniversary concert Thursday night at 7 pm are $14 in advance, $16 at the door. Call 610-22-7250 or e-mail at info@folkclub.org for information and reservations.
